There is
by FairySolo
Summary: Hermione Granger knows she likes Ron Weasley. But is there room for a certain sixth year to change that? CDxHG, CCxCD mentions of CCxHP and RWxHG. [Chapters 1 and 2 Reposted][Chapter 3 lengthened]
1. Back

There Is

(Re-mastered Edition)

**I haven't written this Fic for a while, so I decided to go back and fix a few of those punctuation errors and things first before posting an entirely new chapter (after what seems like forever) So, I hope you enjoy. And thanks for the support with this story.**

Chapter One: Back

Hermione Granger gazed out the window of the Hogwarts express in a daydream. The journey always did become tedious and boring after the first couple of hours, and Ron and Harry were also seemingly not in the mood to make conversation.

Hermione's mind (like Harrys. Heck, Maybe even Ron's) was on the events of the Quidditch World Cup. The Dark Mark had been conjured and seen for the first time in thirteen years, and even though Hermione was muggle born she knew what the return of You-Know-Who would mean. Taking her eyes reluctantly off the window she glanced at Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, her best friends.

Harry looked worried and slightly tense. This didn't surprise Hermione, if You-Know-Who was back he would be coming for Harry Potter first. She couldn't stand the silence any longer, and decided to attempt making conversation,

"They must have some idea who conjured it?" She had failed in concealing her worry, "I mean… All that security…" She mumbled mostly to herself,

"They don't have a clue. That's why there so worried. Happened right under the Ministry's nose" Ron said seriously, "or is that noses…"

Hermione rolled her eyes, but didn't remark on Ron's stupidity due to the arrival of the trolley

"Anything from the trolley?" An old looking Witch asked through the open compartment doors. Ron and Harry were scrambling in their pockets for money.

"I'll be right back" Hermione whispered to Harry, though he wasn't paying attention. She squeezed past the trolley on her way out the compartment and made her way to the toilets. When she got there and saw the queue she tutted and rolled her eyes.

"Annoying isn't it?" An unrecognisable male voice said from behind her, not sure if he was talking to her Hermione turned around. Standing behind her was the rather handsome Hufflepuff sixth year, Cedric Diggory.

"Hermione Granger, isn't it?" Cedric extended his hand, "we met at the World cup?"

"Yes, just for a minute though" Hermione shook his hand. He didn't say anything and Hermione couldn't think of anything to say either. She had never really been victim of an 'awkward silence' before, and she made note not to be again. Awkward silences were just that - awkward.

After a few moments (and to Hermione's relief) Cedric spoke again,

"Well, it looks like I can go now" Hermione looked towards the boys toilets. There was no queue there anymore, "see you around" and he strolled off.

Hermione waited again for a few minutes, but then decided to return to her compartment and abandon her attempts to use the toilet. She realised that the dozen or so girls ahead of her would take at least twenty minutes each fixing their hair or make up.

"Where have you been?" Ron asked in a would-be accusatory tone.

"I don't see why I should share my every movement with you, Ronald. But if you are that desperate to know, I went to the toilet" she rolled her eyes (for what felt like the millionth time that day) and sat back down with Crookshanks on her lap.

"We'll be there soon" Harry observed, "we should put out robes on"

* * *

The rest of the journey passed without any real incident. Harry and Ron played Wizards Chess obsessively for the next forty five minutes until Neville, Ginny, Fred and George joined their compartment and they began a tournament. Hermione decided to sit it out as she knew her strength didn't lie in chess and watched as Ron won the tournament just as the train pulled into Hogsmeade station.

The sorting was something that Hermione usually watched with interest. But this year she really wanted it to end - and was regretting the decision to skip lunch - she swore the whole of the Great Hall could hear her stomach rumbling. But after what felt like hours the sorting ended and Dumbledore indicated the start of the feast.

Hermione had been rather enjoying the meal, untill Fred (though it may have been George) made an offhand comment about house elves, and how they had prepared the meal! She dropped her fork in horror and despite her hunger, vowed not to eat another bite.

"Slave labour!" She burst, shrilly, "slave labour is what cooked this meal!"

She was enraged, Hogwarts of all places! She thought that Dumbledore had morals! How could he endorse slavery!

When the feast came to an end she wasn't exactly in the best of moods, which led her to snort loudly when Dumbledore started his speech ("now we've all been fed and watered") which she was certain Gryffindor table had heard, at least.

However, the subject of Dumbledore's speech grabbed her attention and she momentarily forgot all about house elves and slavery.

"The Triwizard tournament will be held at Hogwarts this year" there were murmers of great interest around her, especially from Fred and George. She listened intently as Dumbledore explained how shortlist of students from the participating schools will be arriving at the end of October. "However, due to the dangers of competing in such a tournament there will be age restrictions. You can only put forth your name if you are aged seventeen or older"

"That's rubbish!" Hermione distinctly heard Fred yell. There were other obscenities being thrown around also. Hermione thought this ridiculous, like anyone under seventeen would be capable of competing anyway. But to her surprise Ron and Harry both seemed quite annoyed by this,

"It's for the best really…" she began tentatively, "people have died. No one under seventeen would be able too…"

"Give it a rest Hermione!" Ron spat. She was taken aback, her and Ron had bickered before but he had never said anything that cruelly to her before. She didn't have time to ponder his treatment of her though, as Dumbledore had restarted his speech.

"I will explain the selection process when the delegations arrive. But until then I bid you all a goodnight!"

There was a great shuffle as everyone tried to leave the Hall. Hermione was still rather annoyed with Ron however, and decided to hang back a bit and wait for the majority to leave. When she did make her way to the marble staircase she was surprised to see Ron waiting at the bottom of it.

"Ron?"

He suddenly noticed her presence and had obviously not expected to see her. Hermione got the distinct impression he was hiding something,

"'Mione, what are you doing here?" He asked twitchily. Now she was sure he was up to something,

"I could ask you the same thing" she said coldly, still hurt by his earlier outburst.

"I'm not breaking any law!" He snapped, in a similar tone he had used earlier. Hermione wasn't really in the mood for this.

"You know what Ron? You can be a right git sometimes!" And she stormed up the staircase before this turned into a full blown row.

"Shit!" She cursed when she reached the portrait of the fat lady. She didn't know the password. She instinctively blamed Ron for this. Even though she knew that was irrational.

"Its balderdash" a quiet voice told her

"Ginny!" Hermione had never been more grateful to see her. The portrait swung open and they entered together and headed for the dormitories. As Ginny's was first Hermione bade her goodnight and continued to her own. She hoped she would be able to get into bed without having to talk to Parvarti or Lavendar. But no such luck.

"Oooh have you and Ronny fallen out again?" Lavendar cooed. Both of those girls were always so desperate for even the slightest bit of gossip. Hermione knew this so never confided in either of them.

"No. I'm just tired. Goodnight" she ignored their giggles and climbed into her bed, closed the curtains and after a lot of tossing and turning, eventually fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Hermione surprised herself by enjoying her first day back immensely. Despite the problems the night before with Ron, they had just been acting like they normally did in situations like these. Formal and polite, in fact not even mentioning it at all. Hermione would have preferred them just talking out their differences, but she knew form experience that Ron couldn't handle those kind of talks so she just took his lead in not talking about it.

The last lesson of the day happened to be Potions; Ron and Harry's least favourite class. Hermione secretly rather enjoyed potion making in spite of Professor Snape's obvious bias toward the Slytherins, and his disparaging remarks toward Harry and on occasion other Gryffindor's too.

It was during this lesson that her relationship with Ron really returned to normal. He had failed spectacularly in making his potion so had endured taunts from the Slytherins and Snape. Hermione consoled him by squeezing his hand (although she did this discreetly to aviod anymore unwanted attention) and she saw him blush a slight pink.

Hermione had suspected for nearly a year now that Ron's feelings for her may be more than just simple friendship, and she knew that her feelings were also something more. But she wasn't completely sure and didn't want to risk their friendship by attempting some form of romantic relationship quite yet, she knew they both just weren't ready for that.

That evening Hermione decided that she would do her homework in the privacy of the library. She always enjoyed Hogwarts library - not only for the mass amounts of books- but just for the peace and quiet it offered, which you couldn't really get anywhere else in Hogwarts (with the exception of down by the lake)

She completed her homework rather quickly, and was pleased as that wasn't the only reason she was there. She scanned the magical creatures section until she found what she was looking for. With a triumphant smile she took 'Enslavement: A History Of House Elves' off the shelf and took it back to her table and began to read.

After around half an hour of intense reading, she was interrupted (to her great annoyance) by a now quite familiar voice,

"Mind if I join you?"


	2. Resolve

There Is

Chapter Two: Resolve

"Mind if I join you?"

Hermione knew it was Cedric Diggory before looking, but was still slightly annoyed at being interrupted. But she decided not to show it as she didn't want Cedric to think badly of her,

"Of course not" she moved her books over to make room for him opposite her.

He sat down and started busying himself looking through his bag for something, Hermione took this time to study his profile (out of sheer curiosity) as most girls she knew had mentioned at some point just how attractive he was and it was common for arguments to break out over his best feature. Some argued his eyes, some his lips ("so kissable" Ginny had remarked) so Hermione wanted to form her own opinion.

She looked at his eyes first. They were a deep blue-grey, quite beautiful. Next she studied his lips, Ginny was right when she called them "kissable" they were full, but not too full and a nice pinkie-red colour.

Cedric looked up a bit too suddenly and Hermione ripped her eyes away and blushed red despite herself, she didn't want Cedric to think she was just another girl who fancied him rotten. Because she most certainly wasn't.

She continued to read her book, but Cedric's presence made her slightly uneasy. She never knew what to say to people she had only just met. A few years ago she never would have had this problem, she never got tongue tied and never ever worried about what kind of first impression she made.

This had changed, like a lot of things when she met Harry and Ron. She had realised the value of true friendship after their many adventures together. She had learned the importance of treating people well.

"What ya reading?" He asked curiously. Hermione was slightly baffled that the Quidditch captain, Prefect and all round most admired guy in Hogwarts would care what little Hermione Granger was reading in her spare time. That he was actually having a conversation with her!

"Oh" she managed to say, realising she hadn't said anything and there had been a good pause since he had asked, "something about house elves"

"House elves?" He seemed surprised, "you surprise me"

"Why?"

"I… I just didn't expect it. Why house elves?" He seemed genuinely curious, baffling Hermione more.

"Umm…" She couldn't actually think of a logical reason why, and she didn't fancy forcing her views on him when they'd only had one proper conversation. Cedric just looked at her, amused. Waiting for her to give a coherent answer.

"I'm reading a book on house elves because I don't agree with how there treated. There enslaved and treated like… Like animals! Like scum or something…" She felt a bit embarrassed and couldn't believe she had said it. She didn't want him to think she was some sort of weird girl who had nothing better to do. But to her surprise he actually smiled at her, warmly.

"I agree"

She was sceptical, was he making fun?

"You agree?" She questioned tentatively,

"Yeah… It's not exactly fair is it?"

She smiled. She couldn't help it. Cedric Diggory really was a charmer.

"Exactly! Don't you-" But she was interrupted by the arrival of the pretty Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang.

"Hi Cedric" she said breathily, ignoring Hermione entirely, "Have a nice summer?"

"Can't complain. You were at the World Cup weren't you?"

Hermione suddenly knew what it was like to be the third wheel. So deciding it was best to slip out unnoticed, she got up and left the library while Cedric and Cho were discussing Quidditch terms or something of the like.

"Hermione!" Someone called, she heard their footsteps quicken until they were right beside her.

"Hi Cho" she felt a little odd. Cho Chang had never said more than three words to her before, what could she possibly want now?

"Hey" she continued, smiling, "I just, thought I should ask… You don't like Cedric do you?"

"Like him?" She questioned, confused. She didn't even know him. She told Cho this.

"Oh.. Thanks Hermione" she skipped away. Leaving Hermione a bit confused.

It suddenly dawned on her. Cedric had seen her looking at him and had mentioned it to Cho. She bet they had been having a right laugh about it too! How could he be so full of himself! She made a mental note to stay away from Cedric from now on.

When she was back in the common room she made her way over to Ron, who asked as soon she sat down,

"You… You don't fancy helping us with these Potions essays do you?" He seemed rather nervous. She had completed hers while at the library.

Of course, she hadn't confided in Harry or Ron what happened at the library with Cedric or Cho. She didn't feel comfortable enough and didn't want to have to deal with Ron's remarks about her 'fancying' Cedric. Especially when she was so unsure of her feelings for Ron himself.

"I'm busy" she replied, twirling her wand in her fingers. She heard Ron grumble distinctly, but didn't feel bad.

"Busy! With what exactly, twirling your wand!" He challenged.

"Thinking"

Hermione heard Ron say something along the lines of "my arse" but didn't respond, she was in fact thinking. What if she took her house elf campaign further? Cedric seemed interested…And look who his father was? Amos Diggory was the main reason she became interested in the first place. Hermione found his treatment of Winky at the World Cup despicable.

"Look, if its that house elf thing again your better off leaving it alone!" Hermione jumped up in rage (which often happened when Ron said idiotic things)

"What is that supposed to mean!" She didn't understand why she let him get to her.

"They like it. They LIKE being enslaved!" He insisted. Hermione wouldn't have been surprised if he started throwing his toys out of a pram at that moment. Why did he always have to act this way?

"Well if you wont help, I'll do it myself!" She stomped up to her dormitory, and for the second time in two nights rudely said goodnight to Parvarti and Lavender and pulled the hanging shut around her bed. She lay in her bed for a few hours mulling things over and something Ron had said in first year came into her mind,

"No wonder she hasn't got any friends"

A tear rolled down her cheek. Maybe he was right, maybe the reason she only had two real friends was because of herself. She was the only one to blame.

* * *

After the eventful first couple of days back at Hogwarts, time moved pretty quickly for Hermione. Between working on her unnamed house elf project and homework she had little time for anything else. Before she knew it, it was mid October, with only a week until the foreign schools arrived. 

Lavender and Parvarti (what with their increased giggling as of late) were obviously very excited by this.

"Think how many hot guys there will be! Especially from Durmstrang!" Lavender squealed

"Ooh I know!" Parvarti added, and they broke out in hysterical giggles.

"Come on Hermione, you must be a little excited!" Lavender practically screamed at her in the common room one night, she wasn't in the mood for this. She had too much homework to do and was putting the final touches to her house elf campaign.

"No, I'm not. And if you don't mind I have homework to do"

This set Lavender and Parvarti off again, and Hermione heard them throw the word "lesbian" around. Annoyed, she packed her things and headed for the library where she wouldn't be bothered by pointless chatter about people that weren't even here yet.

With relief, she put her heavy bag on her usual table in the library and started her work again, glad to finally have some peace.

During this time she finally came up with a name for her house elf campaign: S.P.E.W. Standing for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Smiling to herself Hermione packed her books back into her bag.

"Fancy seeing you here" Hermione got the impression he must have been smirking.

"Cedric" she acknowledged, rather coolly, she hadn't yet gotten over his assumption that she must have some schoolgirl crush on him. And the humiliation of him probably having Cho ask her about it. Cedric seemed to notice her tone because all the playfulness evaporated from him demeanour.

"What's the problem?" He seemed concerned, but this didn't make Hermione think anymore of him,

"What problem?" She asked innocently,

"Your being a bit rude" he stated bluntly

"Rude!" She accused, slightly hysterical, "I'm being rude! You're the one who just assumed I must have some big crush on you! I bet you and Cho had a huge laugh about that!"

Hermione hated it when this happened. It seemed that whenever a male someone pissed her off, she would jump into this huge (rather unnecessary) defensive mode.

"You've got it all wrong"

"I have?" She said disbelievingly, "Is that so?"

"Yes" he was smiling now, "I know your probably not used to that, being so intelligent…" She couldn't help smiling, "but I didn't tell Cho anything. She just jumped to that conclusion when she saw us sitting together"

"Oh" Hermione started laughing nervously, "I guess I really just didn't think it through properly. I'm sorry, I've hated you for a month for no good reason"

"No hard feelings… Are you leaving?"

"Erm… Yeah, I'm finished"

"I'll see you around then, Hermione"

Feeling cheered up, Hermione left the library. When back in her dormitory, she was still smiling. She even felt that maybe her and Cedric could be good friends one day, if these library meetings kept up.


	3. Arrival

There Is

Chapter Three: Arrival

In the days leading up to the arrival of the foreign students, the whole castle seemed to go insane. The girls seemed to be paying more and more attention to their appearance, and the boys were practising various hexes and charms that they probably hoped would impress the new arrivals. Hermione found this new found insanity strange and almost stupid. The other schools most likely already had lots of preconceived ideas about Hogwarts that wouldn't be changed just because the girls looked pretty or the boys could curse them into oblivion.

To Hermione's astonishment, Lavender and Parvarti seemed to be even more looks obsessed, with both spending their evenings trying different hairstyles and changing their make up. Hermione thought they looked ridiculous, but she was secretly amused watching them make themselves look even more silly then they already were.

"What do you think of my hair, Lav?" Parvarti asked while modelling a hairstyle that made her look like some sort of pheasant.

"What about this lipgloss?" Lavender asked, ignoring Parvarti's need for reassurance about her hair, "or do you think I should go darker"

Hermione thought that no, she shouldn't go darker. She was already wearing the most hideous colour imaginable, why do girls like to torture themselves?

Hermione just glared at them,

"What do you think Hermione?" Parvarti asked. Hermione just rolled her eyes and made an exasperated noise,

"I'm going for breakfast" and she left, not commenting on either one's new look. No matter how much they may annoy her, she didn't want to hurt their feelings.

She really didn't see what all the fuss was about. Sure, she was looking forward to the Triwizard tournament but she didn't agree with the fact that the whole of Hogwarts was trying to change so the visitors would feel more comfortable. Surely Hogwarts was fine the way it was? Did they really require all this drama?

* * *

"Honestly!" She complained to Harry and Ron while they were queuing outside for their final lesson of the day on the thirtieth of October: the day of the arrivals. "Do a few visitors really require all this fuss?" She probably wouldn't have been that annoyed but Lavender had been trying to put hair potion on her all day ("it'll make your hair less… Bushy" she insisted, Hermione had responded to this by telling her to "go away" but using language that Ron would have been proud of)

"Who cares?" Ron smirked, "we miss half of potions" Hermione sighed, Ron loved any opportunity to slack off.

"Yeah…" Harry agreed, "Snape won't have time to poison us!"

Hermione could understand Harry's reasoning behind being pleased at the shortened potions lesson, Snape had threatened to poison Harry to test whether or not his antidote worked - and Snape sure was vindictive enough to go through with it.

The lesson went by without anything newsworthy happening. Snape seemed annoyed at the fact he wouldn't have time to poison anybody, and the fact that he had less time to torment the Gryffindor's in general. But thankfully nobody was poisoned or traumatised or anything similar. When everyone was excused they pretty much ran to their dormitories, and when Hermione arrived in hers she noticed Lavender and Parvarti putting ornaments of some kind in their hair. Suppressing a giggle Hermione dumped her bag and went down to meet Ron and Harry.

"Have you done something with your hair?" Ron asked curiously,

"No" Hermione said, surprised,

"Oh… It looks nice" he said absent mindedly, Hermione smiled inwardly at the compliment.

When they reached the Great Hall, all the students were taken outside and lined up to welcome to guests. It was quite chilly but not to cold thankfully.

"How do you suppose they'll get here?" Harry asked,

"Probably apparate" Ron said, "if there coming from far away" Hermione gritted her teeth,

"How many times! You can't apparate in or out of Hogwarts! Will you ever read Hogwarts: A History?" She asked, annoyed,

"I don't suppose we will, actually 'Mione" Ron responded, "and we know how much you love to enlighten us…" Someone bumped into her shoulder, distracting her from Ron. She turned round to try and catch the culprit. To her surprise it was Cedric Diggory,

"Didn't realise it was you Hermione, forgive me?" And he left to find his place in the line. She noticed an incomprehensible look on Ron's face,

"Since when are you two on first name terms?" He asked accusingly,

"I don't know!" She said, defensively. Ron gave her a suspicious look but didn't push it, there was a shuffle in the crowd which Hermione took to mean that something was happening.

Out of the sky came a luxurious carriage which had what looked like horses with wings pulling it. It came to a rocky halt out the front of the castle and the door opened. Out of it came a large women who was tall enough to rival Hagrid, followed by about a dozen students in uniforms.

"Madam Maxime" she heard Dumbledore greet who she assumed to be the large woman,

"Dumblydoor!" She replied in a strong French accent, but was interrupted by another arrival, and everyone turned to face the lake.

A huge, skeletal like ship reached out of the lake and came to a halt as another dozen or so students wearing furs made their way straight to the Great Hall while their headmaster had a conversation with Dumbledore.

Hermione heard Ron on her left whisper something in Harry's ear,

"Harry! Look, its Viktor Krum!"

Hermione looked directly ahead of her, and there he was: international Quidditch star Viktor Krum looking in her direction.

"What do you suppose he's looking at?" Ron asked her,

"I don't know" she answered truthfully. The crowd started moving and they were making their way to the Great Hall for the feast. When they were seated Ron was looking to see where Viktor Krum was sitting.

"Damn Slytherin's!" He cursed, as Viktor and the others took a seat on the Slytherin table. "Look at Malfoy sucking up to him…"

Hermione thought that was a bit rich of Ron, but she didn't say that at risk of annoying him.

The feast started and Hermione found herself enjoying the food. There were lots of foreign options and halfway through a pretty French girl came to the table next to Ron, asking for a dish. Hermione felt slightly jealous of Ron's obvious attraction to the girl, and found herself wishing this feast would end.

Sure enough Dumbledore began his speech about ten minutes later, and explained the selection process for the Triwizard tournament, revealing a beautiful goblet,

"the goblet of fire will be the impartial judge. It will select one champion for Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. But be warned, the goblet can not be tricked, so only enter you name if you are over seventeen and willing to see it through until the end. Being selected constitutes a binding magical contract"

On the way back to the common room after the festivities were over, Hermione listened to Harry and Ron eagerly plot ways to enter the tournament. After about half an hour of having listened to these Hermione decided that it would be best for her to go to bed.

"What do you reckon, Hermione?" Ron asked, happily, "reckon there's a way to trick the goblet?"

"No" she said simply, yawning, "Goodnight"

Hermione found herself feeling rather hurt as she heard Ron accusing her of being a "spoilsport" and "no fun".


	4. Seeing

-1There Is

Chapter Four: Seeing

For the first time in probably her entire school career Hermione Granger was glad that it was a Saturday. For this meant she could spend her entire day in the library without interruption, just pure peace and quiet. When she got there however that isn't what she found.

When she got to her regular seat she noticed a gang on whispering girls behind one of the bookshelves. She found this odd but didn't really question what they were doing there. It was only after about an hour of constant whispering and giggling within her earshot until she got really annoyed and had a look around to see why these girls were acting like five year olds. It didn't take her long to find the reason.

Viktor Krum was sitting at a nearby table reading a book of some kind. The girls obviously had followed him here. Hermione didn't understand why they just didn't get their autograph and leave. Thankfully, Madam Pince seemed to have noticed the disturbance and came over.

"Get out! Get out!" And she hexed some rather heavy books to chase the girls out of the library. Hermione suppressed bursting out laughing and settled for giggling beneath her book.

"I think they should name this library after you" Cedric took the seat opposite her, "do you ever leave?" He joked,

"When the mood takes me" she said casually, not taking her eyes of the book she was reading.

"How are you?" He seemed to think something was wrong

"Nothing!" She said quickly, "just glad it's Saturday"

"Hermione Granger" he teased, "glad that it's a Saturday. I never thought I'd see the day"

"Well, sometimes people can surprise you" she said offhandedly, not taking her eyes off the book,

"That they can" he agreed, seriously. Hermione took her eyes off the book and looked at him for a second. He was looking right at her - right _through_ her, it felt like he was seeing every part of her yet she couldn't explain why. Feeling awkward she put her eyes back on her book but she wasn't really reading it, and she felt stupid she had read so much into one stupid glance.

"I better go. I'm late as it is" he declared, getting up,

"Late for what?" She asked curiously,

"Gotta meet Cho" he said casually, as if it was no big deal. Not that Hermione thought that it was. But she did feel a little put out for reasons unknown to even herself.

"Oh. See you later then" she said, as pleasantly as she could,

"Bye" he called, but he was already practically halfway out of the library.

* * *

Hermione spent the next few hours reading quietly to herself and improving parts of her homework. Viktor Krum (to Hermione's great surprise) also didn't show any signs of leaving, and every now and again she glanced over to see what he was doing. It rather annoyed her that he was there as a whole new group of girls had now discovered him and in turn where disturbing the peace of the library, Hermione felt as if this was some kind of invasion.

Hermione had also noticed that Viktor Krum kept glancing over at her. She found that a little strange to say the least, was he making fun of her or something? She didn't quite understand what he was trying to achieve but she decided the best course of action would just be to not look back at him - to pretend he wasn't there.

* * *

About half an hour later Hermione grew tired of the constant whispering and giggling of the Viktor groupies so she decided to just leave and maybe take a walk around the grounds. Madam Pince seemed to have lost the will to even try to kick them out and she couldn't put up with the noise anymore.

When she exited the relative warmth of the castle and was on the grounds she was rather surprised by the cold. She pulled her cloak closer to her and walked towards the familiar figure by the lake,

"Harry?"

"Oh, Hi Hermione" he said distractedly, "where have you been?"

"Library"

"Library, right. Of course" he was now absent mindedly throwing stones into the lake,

"You on your own?" Hermione asked, wondering where Ron was,

"Yeah… Ron's with Fred and George"

"Right… Harry, is something wrong. You seem a little… Distracted" she didn't want to pry into his personal life, but something about him did seem very off,

"I don't know. Maybe, it depends how you look at it I suppose" Hermione rolled her eyes and asked half teasing,

"This isn't about a girl is it?" Harry looked shocked,

"No!" He snapped a little too defensively. He looked apologetic, "sorry" he said timidly,

"Who is she?" Hermione found this whole situation a little amusing, Harry was acting like he had some sort of disease!

"Cho" Harry said, and he seemed a little relieved and exhaled deeply, "Cho Chang"

Hermione felt a little angry by this, everyone seemed to love Cho Chang!

"Oh… When did this happen?"

"I don't know. I suppose ever since I first looked at her…" He said in a dream like state that was most unlike Harry.

So it was her looks? That's what made her so irresistible? Not her personality but the fact that she is what guys would call 'hot'.

Hermione eventually became very cold and was told by Harry to go back inside before she dies of cold. Only too happy to obey she headed back to Gryffindor common room. On her way she walked down what she thought was a deserted corridor.

Only to see Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang kissing rather passionately.

For some reason she felt rather annoyed that she had seen this, and she didn't want them (especially Cedric) to realise she had seen. So she took a different (and much longer) route back to Gryffindor tower. When she arrived she noticed that Harry had beaten her there and was sitting in their usual chairs by the fire with Ron.

"Hermione!" Harry and Ron both jumped up, "where have you been?" Hermione didn't understand all this sudden concern, but she decided to enjoy it while it lasted.

"I just took the long way" she said, "why?" She knew what they were like, especially Ron. They wanted something and they may as well get to the point, "what do you want?" She asked suspiciously.

"Nothing!" Harry insisted, "what's wrong? You look pale as a ghost"

"Do I?"

It can't have been what she saw, that wouldn't have this effect on her. Wait.. Should she tell Harry that Cho was off the market? She didn't want to hurt him, and it wasn't really her place…

"Yes. Hermione what's wrong?"

Should she?

"Nothing… I'm fine" she smiled convincingly, "just tired"


End file.
